Baryta muriatica


James Tyler Kent describes the symptoms of the homeopathic medicine Baryta mur in great detail and compares it with other homeopathy remedies.


Generalities: This is one of our deep acting constitutional remedies and one much neglected. It was much used by the earlier men in our school with great effect. In mental weakness, insanity, enlarged glands and sexual excitement we have a group of symptoms hard to cure without Baryta muriatica.

Add to this profound increasing muscular weakness and we must have this remedy sometime during the case or the cure will be slow.

Its complaints are prominent in the morning, forenoon, afternoon, evening, night and after midnight. In the diseases most amenable to this remedy are the affection of the lymphatic glands and other glands.

The patient desires the open air, yet the open air often increases the symptoms. Many cases of aneurysm have been benefited by it.

Modalities: General physical anxiety is a strong feature. Complaints are worse ascending stairs such as dyspnoea, palpitation and weakness. Dread of bathing, like Sulphur.

The symptoms are often worse in cold air and from becoming cold. The convulsive tendency is a very important feature; convulsions with headache, deafness, vomiting and burning in the stomach; convulsions with full consciousness with electric shocks; clonic spasms. It has cured most stubborn cases of epilepsy.

Distension of the blood vessels; emaciation, fainting spells. Complaints worse in fall and spring. Formication all over the body. Sensation of internal fullness. Bleeding from mucous membranes and from ulcers.

Heaviness externally and internally as from weakness and relaxation. Induration of glands; inflammation and swelling of glands. Extreme lassitude, compelled to lie down. Symptoms come before and during menses.

Some symptoms are better from motion; bruised feeling internally; burping in many parts; cutting pains in internal parts; digging pains are not uncommon; gnawing in external parts.

Pains and sensations: Painless symptoms predominant and pain is the exception. Convulsive jerking in the limbs; stitching in glands and along nerves; downward tearing as if in the muscles; one-sided paralysis; left side. Many parts are tender to pressure.

Pulsation in abdomen and limbs. Pulse fast, 120 full, hard, small. Rising up brings on many symptoms. Electric shocks with convulsions. Complaints left-sided-worse while sitting; must lie down. Symptoms come on during sleep-worse while standing.

Painful swelling of glands. Dropsical swelling after scarlet fever; tension, trembling, twitching; weakness in whole body, can hardly move a limb; while walking; general muscular weakness; paralytic weakness; weariness.

Complaints and symptoms grow worse in wet weather. It is the natural complement of Conium in glandular affections and it is very similar, but much deeper acting.

Mind: Easily angered. Anxiety in the evening; about the future; with nausea; retching and pressure in the stomach. It is useful ill children who are slow to learn or understand; children do not desire to play like other children.

Concentration impossible. The locality around him seems strange, transformed; timid and cowardly; delusion that he walks on his knees. Dullness of mind.

Thinks she is going to die. Fear: of evil, of men; foolish behavior; idiocy; imbecility, indifference, insanity; erotic insanity.

Insanity where the sexual excitement becomes strong. Irresolution. Irritable in the evening. Mania in every form when sexual desire is increased; nymphomania. Sadness in the morning; sits in silence.

Children sit in the corner and give confused answers. Easily startled; suspicious; indisposed to talk; talks in sleep; unconsciousness; fainting; vertigo when walking; things turn around.

The scalp feels constricted. It is a remedy of great usefulness in eruptions of the scalp. Thick, offensive crusts; eczema of the whole top of the head, extending to sides and occiput; suppurating with copious pus. Crops of pimples.

Head: The head feels so heavy he cannot keep up; heaviness of forehead and occiput; sensation of looseness of the brain; a feeling of movement in the head.

Pain in the head in the morning on rising; afternoon, evening, worse in open air; from binding up the hair; after eating, while lying; on moving the eyes; from noise; from pressure; on stopping; while walking; in the forehead, occiput; sides of head, temples; boring in temples; bruises in head; burning in head; pressing in head and in forehead; outwards; stitching in forehead, occiput, sides of head, in temples; stunning pain in head; tearing in occiput, sides of head; shocks in head, ulcers on scalp.

James Tyler Kent
James Tyler Kent (1849–1916) was an American physician. Prior to his involvement with homeopathy, Kent had practiced conventional medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He discovered and "converted" to homeopathy as a result of his wife's recovery from a serious ailment using homeopathic methods.
In 1881, Kent accepted a position as professor of anatomy at the Homeopathic College of Missouri, an institution with which he remained affiliated until 1888. In 1890, Kent moved to Pennsylvania to take a position as Dean of Professors at the Post-Graduate Homeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia. In 1897 Kent published his magnum opus, Repertory of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. Kent moved to Chicago in 1903, where he taught at Hahnemann Medical College.